AN EXPERIMENT IN CONTROL OF BRACKEN FERN AT TUTAKI, MURCHISON

The Murchison district has only a small area of flat land along its river valleys and at their confluence. Steep hills cover the remainder of the country. Rainfall is approximately 60 in. per year. When the land was originally cleared bracken fern (Pteridium esccrlentum) became a menace. The struggle over the years to control this invasion has been long and strenuous and, except on land that can be cultivated, largely unrewarded. Some degree of control has been achieved on the closer hills, but generally results have not been good. Murchison Federated Farmers in 1958 asked the Department of Agriculture to conduct some experimental work to find out how this weed could be handled economically.